In a recent blog post, OpenAI announced that it will be trialling a monthly subscription fee of $20 to support free access to its chatbot, ChatGPT. Currently, OpenAI incurs a small cost each time the chatbot is used, and the subscription fee is aimed at offsetting these costs. ChatGPT provides human-like responses to questions by utilizing information from the internet, however, it is not connected live and uses data from the internet as it was in 2021. Shortly after its launch, the CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman, reported that the chatbot had been used more than one million times, however, no further data has been released since then.
The chatbot has garnered significant attention due to its ability to mimic a wide range of writing styles, including those of a journalist, doctor, rock star, and student essay writer. Despite receiving mixed reviews, with some individuals finding its writing attempts to be a “grotesque mockery,” the chatbot has been used for various purposes such as writing website and marketing copy, finding food recipes, and writing or checking program code.
There are concerns that students may be using the chatbot to complete their homework, and cyber security experts have warned that it could be manipulated into writing malicious software, also known as malware.
